Stealth entropy collection

In a computing system environment having more than one computing device arranged together for other than collection of entropy data, a method of surreptitiously gathering entropy data, comprising:

• placing a network interface card (NIC) in a promiscuous mode;
• by the NIC, receiving any packet coming to the NIC;
• and
• unbeknownst to the packet or a sender of the packet, analyzing one or more of the any packets for entropy data.

A computing system for surreptitiously gathering entropy data, comprising:

• a web server having a servlet filter;
• a web client connected to the web server for sending requests to and receiving responses from the web server by way of the servlet filter;
• and
• an entropy bit buffer for use or outsourcing of entropy bits by the web server as a seed value, the servlet filter having logic able to 1) examine the requests of the web client for response data having unpredictability and 2) siphon the response data as entropy bits to the entropy bit buffer unbeknownst to the web client.

A Java virtual machine for surreptitiously gathering entropy data, comprising:

• an integral services component;
• one or more applications able to call on the integral services component;
• and
• an entropy bit buffer for use or outsourcing of entropy bits by the Java virtual machine as a seed value, the integral services component having logic able to 1) examine the calls of the one or more applications for response data having unpredictability and 2) siphon the response data as entropy bits to the entropy bit buffer unbeknownst to the one or more applications.

A network interface card (NIC) for surreptitiously gathering entropy data, comprising:

• one or more modes including a promiscuous mode to enable receipt of any packet that comes to the NIC;
• a logic component to analyze the any packets;
• and
• an entropy bit buffer for use or outsourcing of entropy bits by the NIC as a seed value, the logic component to 1) examine the any packets and 2) siphon unpredictable characteristics of the any packets as entropy bits to the entropy bit buffer unbeknownst to the any packets or a sender of the any packets.